Max Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jake Wood. He made his first appearance on 27 June 2006. Wood took a four-month break from the show in 2011 and the character was absent between August and November 2011. Wood took a year long break from the show in 2015, with Max departing on 1 October. He returned on 24 December 2016. Wood took another short break from the show in 2018; Max departed on 16 February and returned on 23 April. It was announced in 2018 that Max would be taking a break from the soap in early 2019. He left on 14 February 2019 and returned on 7 May 2019. Max served as the show's main antagonist of 2017 following his release from prison and planning revenge on all his family, friends and neighbours. On 16 September 2020, it was announced that Wood would be departing from the role of Max after more than 14 years. Wood's final scenes aired on 19 February 2021.[1]
Many of Max's storylines focus on his relationships, including his marriages to Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner), Kirsty Branning (Kierston Wareing) and Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks), and relationships with Gemma Clewes (Natalie J. Robb), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Vanessa Gold (Zöe Lucker), Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater), Emma Summerhayes (Anna Acton), Karin Smart (Denise van Outen), Carmel Kazemi (Bonnie Langford), Fi Browning (Lisa Faulkner), Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), many of which are extramarital affairs. Max has also embarked on feuds with his father Jim Branning (John Bardon), brothers Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) and Derek Branning (Jamie Foreman), as well as Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky), Harry Gold (Linal Haft), Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks), Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), Cora Cross (Ann Mitchell), Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), Carl White (Daniel Coonan), Charlie Cotton (Declan Bennett), Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid/Max Bowden), Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), Jane Beale (Laurie Brett), Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell), Mick Carter (Danny Dyer), Martin Fowler (James Bye), Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ) and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth).
In 2008, Max became central to a whodunit storyline that saw him being run over by a mystery assailant who was eventually revealed to be his daughter Lauren (Madeline Duggan). He has also had to come to terms with the death of his son Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements), being framed for attempted murder by Carl White (Daniel Coonan) and his girlfriend Emma's death. In October 2015, Max was wrongly convicted for Lucy Beale's murder, the true murderer was later revealed to be her younger half-brother Bobby (Eliot Carrington). After his release from prison, Max became the show's central antagonist as he sought revenge against Ian and Phil along with everyone else – including his own family – who saw him wrongfully imprisoned, by conspiring with James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde) in his nefarious scheme to redevelop Albert Square. Throughout the events of his revenge storyline, Max arranged for Jack to lose custody over his stepson Matthew Mitchell-Cotton; framed Phil's rival Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood) for drug dealing, resulting in his arrest; blackmailed and later caused the death of Ian's stepson Steven; and forced Jane to leave Walford under the threat of having Bobby harmed in prison. The storyline ultimately concluded with Max attempting to commit suicide after his plan for revenge had failed, but this ended with both his daughters Lauren and Abi (Lorna Fitzgerald) accidentally falling off the roof from The Queen Victoria public house when they attempted to stop their father; Lauren survived the fall whilst Abi died. A couple of months later in 2018, Max married Tanya's sister Rainie in his bid to help win his custody case over Abi's daughter.
- ^ Lovejoy, Hannah (1 December 2020). "EastEnders' Jake Wood confirms when his final scenes as Max Branning will air". Digital Spy.